Dalton continues its volleyball dominance vs. Central Christian

By ANDREW VOGELSports Writer Published: August 22, 2014 4:00 AM

KIDRON -- Even with two new coaches, both the Dalton and Central Christian volleyball teams seem set to continue their success as two of the area's most consistent programs.

That includes the Bulldogs consistently owning the backyard rivalry.

Dalton opened the season with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 win over Central on Thursday for the school's seventh consecutive victory over its neighboring foe. In addition to winning seven straight matches, the Bulldogs have also won the last 12 games over the Comets.

It was certainly a nice start for Allison Hostetler, who won her first game at the helm for her alma mater. Hostetler, a 2006 Dalton grad, took over for former coach Shanna Hildebrandt in March after three years at Chippewa.

"It's nice to be back," said Hostetler, who had a record of 21-45 with the Chipps but helped them improve to fifth in the WCAL last fall. "In the past years Dalton volleyball has really improved and I'm excited to keep that going with the talent we have."

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It was also the first game for Comets coach Hannah Miller. Miller is a 2009 Central grad who served as the JV coach last year. While Miller didn't inherit a cupboard quite as stocked as Hostetler's, the Comets went 19-5 last year and have averaged 20 wins over the last eight seasons.

On Thursday, though, Dalton (1-0) was in control from the outset, leading nearly wire-to-wire starting in Game 1. In the first three games, Dalton jumped out to leads of 16-10, 14-8 and 11-1, respectively, and the Comets (1-1) never really made a serious comeback in any of the three contests. Natalie Swift is the Comets' leading hitter, but she was held to just eight kills on the night.

"Their middle hitters attack a lot," Hostetler said, "so we did a good job taking them out of their offense. Then we got the ball, we kept running and that took them out of their offense."

The Comets also simply had no answer for Dalton's 6-foot-1 sophomore Emma Granger, who had 17 kills. The Comets don't have a big lineup to begin with and then Granger's size in the front row wreaked even more havoc.

"We knew they were going to set their middle hitters," Granger said. "We just wanted to shut them down and take them out of the game."

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Dalton has made a living over the years with powerful hitters in the front row and this year looks to be no different. In addition to Granger's game-high kill total, outside hitter Madeline Zaleski added 13.

"Those two have really worked hard," Hostetler said. "We've changed some things in terms of running quicker and moving around more. They know they're going to get a lot of sets and they make smart plays. They do a good job of reading their blockers."

Central, whose last win over Dalton came on Oct. 27, 2007 in the Div. IV Medina District final, also didn't help its own cause with miscommunication at different points during the match and Miller indicated that's not altogether unexpected. The new coach said the team is not only adjusting to her, but many players are in different spots on the floor from a year ago.

"A lot of the girls are in new roles from what they're used to," Miller said. "They're still working on a lot of things, but we made a lot of our own errors."

One of the biggest voids from a year ago is at setter, where Melissa Nussbaum was a four-year starter and played on the 2012 team that reached the Div. IV state championship game. Alexandra Raber and Ella Spitler will step in as the table setters, with Raber handing out 16 assists on Thursday. One luxury that Raber and Spitler have is they'll be receiving passes from Stacey Coblentz, who has consistently been one of the best liberos in the area and finished with 16 digs last night.

It may take part of the season for the players to adjust to their roles, but Miller said the pieces are still in place for the Comets to post 15 to 20 wins, which has become the norm every fall in Kidron. Because of the Comets' size -- or lack thereof -- Miller said that everything starts on the defensive end.

"It's a great tradition and the girls have it in them," Miller said. "There's a lot of talent, no matter how big or how small we are.

"We always emphasize defense," she added. "We want to be that scrappy team and we have those types of players. We start from the defensive end, but when we're on, it's fun to watch from all aspects."

Andrew Vogel can be reached at 330-287-1624 or avogel@the-daily-record.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andvogel.